The American Diabetes Association today said it would endorse
U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva's Medicaid Enhancement and Emergency Job
Creation Act.

The group thanked Grijalva, "on behalf of the nearly 26 million
Americans living with diabetes and the 79 million with
prediabetes" for his "leadership" in introducing the bill in
December.

The bill would expand funding for
state Medicaid programs and in doing so, Grijalva predicts, create
jobs across the country, and prevent hospital and health center
closures.

Medicaid is for extremely indigent
people. In Arizona, it's for individuals earning less than $11,000
per year. The number of people on the state's Medicaid rolls has
swelled in recent years.

About one in every five Arizonans
receives Medicaid benefits, including 210,000 residents of Pima
County. Arizona's form of Medicaid — the Arizona Health Care Cost
Containment System (AHCCCS) — has cut back its coverage due to
state budget woes and slashed reimbursement levels to health care
providers.

"Now, more than ever, people with
diabetes rely on Medicaid for the tools to manage their disease and
reduce their risk of tragic - and costly - complications such as
blindness, amputations, end-stage kidney disease and heart
disease," the ADA letter of support reads.

"Restoring the enhanced Medicaid
matching rates will allow states to reach our most vulnerable
Americans while creating jobs in the health care sector." The full
letter is available at http://1.usa.gov/xHFrhi.

According to an analysis from the
Economic Policy Institute, an additional $42 billion in Medicaid
grants could close more than 40 percent of states' budget
shortfalls and provide immediate economic support, particularly for
states with high unemployment.